


That Smile

by Trammel



Series: Out of the Wormhole [8]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Less Angsty than the others in the series, Rhodey Feels, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 06:31:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11330421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trammel/pseuds/Trammel
Summary: Tony learns what a friend is...





	That Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I haven't updated this series in years, but I don't control these fics, they come to me.

You're not stupid; you've been officially a genius since before you remember.

But you're not that great with people. It's been repeatedly beaten into you - _literally -_ than kids don't like kids that are younger and smarter than them.

And these aren't kids. These are college students, and you would bet that none of them wants a 14 year old genius as a roommate, no matter how rich you are. But you know that it will make things exponentially worse if you take the perfectly-appointed luxury private suite that Howard wants for you, complete with bodyguards.

You put your foot down, take a stand, make a case for being "normal" for once. Strangely, Howards listens to you. Maybe he's being decent for once. Maybe he's finally listening to you. Maybe he's just too busy and couldn't care less what you do.

Anyway, you need a roommate. You need to make an ally to help you navigate people. People aren't like machines; they're complicated. They're hard. With adults, most of the time, by now you can figure out what they want from you. Who they want you to be, and you can play those parts - dutiful son, child genius, rich heir - perfectly, but with teenagers, if you don't bump up your learning curve, you're really afraid it might be hopeless.

Howard still uses his connections to find you a roommate - James - who is a "fine, upstanding young man, from a good family." He's a freshman, and he skipped a year in high school, so he just turned 17, and the age difference isn't as ridiculous as it could be.

You walk into the miniscule room by yourself ( _No, Mother, you are not going with me. It's bad enough they'll think I'm a baby. Just have the driver drop me off. Yes, I'm sure.)_ and throw your bags on the unclaimed bed. You introduce yourself, desperately trying to give off ' _I'm not a weirdo'_ vibes.

James doesn't seem angry at being forced to share a room with you. He's relaxed and his smile seems real. Not one of those fake smiles you are really good at spotting, and using when you need to.

After a few minutes of stilted conversation, he goes, "Hey, did you bring your robot?" And you think the excitement in his voice is real too. You show him to your workshop _(ok, you did accept MIT's offer of a private workshop. That was a must.)_ and his eyes light up.

And he introduces himself to Dum-E, not making fun, but completely serious. A small, bright hope starts to grow in you.

That night, instead of going off to get drunk and hook up with girls, he spends the whole night tinkering with you in the workshop. And, in the morning, over hot coffee and cold pizza, he says,

"Call me Rhodey."

Turns out James is _smart._ Probably as smart as you. So you can actually talk to him.

From that point on he hangs out with you and kind of looks after you and jokes with you and treats you like a person and not Tony Stark™.

One day he hears you on the phone with Howard, reaming you out for not getting first place in some competition. When you hang up the phone you look over at him, afraid and ashamed, no idea what to say.

"So, your Dad's kind of an asshole, huh?" he says, smiling that smile.

At that point you know you have a real friend. You think you might love him, really love him, like you love Jarvis or maybe your mom.

Rhodey invites you home with him to Thanksgiving to a house filled with people, lacking cold silences or drunk anger. You start to learn what family is.

He's not too happy when you start going out with him to get drunk and hook up with girls, but he doesn't stop you. He always goes with you when you do stupid things, to do stupid things right along with you, and to make sure you don't get into too much trouble.

And he _never_ rats you out.

Twenty years later he's still mother-henning you, but sometimes it pisses you off. This time you say some shitty things.

Your world explodes and you spend three months thinking of him, on the days your capable of thinking.  

_You can be more and you just don't see it._

You wonder if he'll ever forgive you. Hoping so hard that he will. You have to show everyone, but mostly you have to show him that you get it now. You need him, most of all, to believe in you again. You want to show him that he's right, that you are more  thank you know and you need to show the world.

Make things right.

Mostly you need to see his smile again.

Now you're here, in the middle of the desert, and he's kneeling in front of you. You're half-certain he's just a mirage until he says, "How was the fun-vee?" and gives you that smile, that _real_ smile, tinged with relief, and pulls you close.

And you know you're home.


End file.
